If You Could Bring One Place Back...

I spent many Saturdays in the 80's buying African Cichlids from the Tropical Seas store. I remember David owned the store but he had a partner named John Harkins sp? that was a genius about fish. He was very kind and patient with questions. I bought so many fish and equipment from tropical seas. John taught me so much about the hobby. I appreciate John so much. I wish I could find him but time and memory has limited my search.

I spent many Saturdays in the 80's buying African Cichlids from the Tropical Seas store. I remember David owned the store but he had a partner named John Harkins sp? that was a genius about fish. He was very kind and patient with questions. I bought so many fish and equipment from tropical seas. John taught me so much about the hobby. I appreciate John so much. I wish I could find him but time and memory has limited my search.

I spent many Saturdays in the 80's buying African Cichlids from the Tropical Seas store. I remember David owned the store but he had a partner named John Harkins sp? that was a genius about fish. He was very kind and patient with questions. I bought so many fish and equipment from tropical seas. John taught me so much about the hobby. I appreciate John so much. I wish I could find him but time and memory has limited my search.

Lightning bugs, front porch swings. horned toads, old wooden folding lawn chairs, but not push-lawnmowers or chiggers. Chiggers are still around in abundance.. Oh, I forgot…baby giants, cherry bombs, and real M-80s that you could pop on the 4th and the police wouldn't lock you up. These aren't "places", but linked to the past. Jim

Can someone tell me the relationship, if any, between the Goff's now located across Hillcrest from SMU and the place remembered by Mike Marsalis? I only noticed the place the last couple of times I was in Dallas, so I apologize if this is sort of a stale question.

The business on Hillcrest is owned by a group that purchased Goff's from the family. It replaced the location on Lover's Lane. I cannot recall the conflict details but I remember some family squabble regarding the original Goff's and I think it was Harvey Goff's mother that was trying to take the original location away from him.

Everything from South Oak Cliff 1954 (when I was born) to 1970. Square dancing & real carnivals. Riding your bike, walking home from school, walking to a friends house blocks away (& at night) without a care in the world REAL homeroom Valentines Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, & Christmas Parties. THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE!

I think I'd have to vote for the Highland Park Cafeteria on Knox. We went there with my grandparents at least twice a month for years. The upstairs banquet room with the player piano was our favorite place to eat and I still have fond memories of their chicken and dumplings (and I've been vegetarian for 40 years!). I'd also like to see the Kip's Big Boy at Hillcrest and Northwest Hwy. I've always been amazed that 7-11's current owners couldn't see their way clear to making that the coolest 7-11 in the world and save one of the last pieces of Googie architecture left in the area.

Since this thread is active again, I'll add Tolbert's Chili Parlor at Cedar Springs and Oak Lawn. Ah, to have a Bowl of Red again, or the giant Boquillas Burrito, and to wash it down with a Shiner Lager.

I so agree with you on this. I loved the EZ's that was in the old Kip's and was incredibly disappointed with the 7-11 folks for tearing it down. Just another mindless corporate decision. It could have been a truly special location but is, instead, unimaginative and generic. I always make a point of eating at the EZ's in Austin whenever I'm down there. Not exactly the same but close enough.

northdallasgirl Wrote:
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> I think I'd have to vote for the Highland Park
> Cafeteria on Knox. We went there with my
> grandparents at least twice a month for years.
> The upstairs banquet room with the player piano
> was our favorite place to eat and I still have
> fond memories of their chicken and dumplings (and
> I've been vegetarian for 40 years!). I'd also
> like to see the Kip's Big Boy at Hillcrest and
> Northwest Hwy. I've always been amazed that
> 7-11's current owners couldn't see their way clear
> to making that the coolest 7-11 in the world and
> save one of the last pieces of Googie architecture
> left in the area.

Jardee's Italian Restaurant in a house at 2607 N. Haskell Ave. in the 1960's. Wonderful Italian food, plus they served French fries as a side dish. My date bet me that I could not eat all the food on my plate. Not only did I eat every bite, I ordered dessert as well.

I married a man from Sherman, Tx, where the Ashburn's Ice Cream factory was. He took me there on an afternoon date and I met Mr. Ashburn. There were two brothers who became estranged and one moved to Dallas and founded Polar Bear while the other stayed at the original site. Mr. Ashburn told me a story about his peach ice cream. He sent trucks to Arkansas to gather peaches that were over ripe, almost bad, because they held the most flavor and were easier to blend into the cream and freeze. He was the most gracious man and took me through the factory and showed me the process of making different ice creams. I'd forgotten that memory until I saw this post. Thank you.

The second Ashburn's brother also opened ice cream shops in Dallas, but named Ashburn's. The brothers made an agreement, one got Dallas, the other got Oak Cliff. That was in the 1930s iirc according to the article in the Sherman newspaper that detailed the history of the Ashburn's ice cream business (article appeared in 1981 or 1982, when I lived in Sherman). The story of the peach ice cream and the very ripe peaches used in it was also told in the article. The two different ice cream lines in Dallas (Polar Bear and Ashburn's) were merged in the mid to late 1960s I think, to become Polar Bear-Ashburn's. That's about the time that the little store front shops opened, like the one near the corner of Hampton and Illinois in Oak Cliff.

In the article in the Sherman paper, Ashburn related that women who worked at the factory peeled the peaches for the ice cream by hand, and that they, the work tables, and the floor in the room where they worked all became slick from peach juice. He described the women as having peach juice dripping from their arms as they worked.

Boy, I sure did like that peach ice cream, and would love to have a double dip cone of it right now, even though it is 25 F and there is a five inch snow cover where I am. But Ashburn's didn't have it in winter back then, either.